You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view some discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us

Thailand and Asia NewsThe News Forum. Thai News, world News and current affairs. Find out what's happening in the world today. For local Thai News check out Bangkok News, Chiang Rai News, Pattaya News and Phuket News.Robust discussion is allowed, but posters should stay on topic and refrain from personal attacks.

YANGON (Reuters) - Hundreds of Buddhist monks rounded up by Myanmar's junta were beaten and kept in animal-like conditions without toilets or drinking water during days of interrogation, one of those freed said on Thursday.

"At the beginning it was very, very bad," one recently released monk told Reuters, requesting anonymity because of the threat of repercussions against those who speak out against the regime, the latest face of 45 years of unbroken military rule.

Caged for more than a week at a former Government Technical Institute compound in north Yangon, the monks -- revered figures in the devoutly Buddhist nation -- were stripped of their maroon monastic robes and treated like common criminals.

"When one of us used a pronoun referring to himself as a monk, he was slapped," the monk said. "Then an interrogator said: 'You are no longer a monk. You are just an ordinary man with a shaven head.'"

snip

africa.reuters.com

__________________"Keeping quiet while monks and other peaceful protesters are murdered and jailed is not evidence of constructive engagement." - Arvind Ganesan, Human Rights Watch.

MANDALAY, Oct 11 (IPS) - When Burma’s military regime mounted an attack on unarmed Buddhist monks and civilian protestors in Rangoon, the residents of this ancient city feared similar treatment.

On the first day of that crackdown, Sep. 26, monks were targeted by heavily armed soldiers, the riot police and the pro-government militia. Monasteries in Rangoon were raided at night, the resident monks beaten and hundreds arrested.

Yet interviews conducted by IPS this week reveal a contrasting picture in Mandalay, the heartland of Buddhism in this country, where the landscape is peppered with a rich mix of pagodas and monasteries. As a showdown loomed up between crimson-robed monks leading anti-government marchers, there were scenes of soldiers worshipping the monks and appealing to them to avoid a clash.

‘’I saw soldiers worshipping the monks and asking them to go back to their monasteries,’’ said a female university student. ‘’They did not want a confrontation.’’

And even when force was used to disperse the demonstrators it was limited to tear gas and rubber bullets, added residents who had joined the protests. They had also seen shots being fired into the air rather than at demonstrating crowds.

One monk confirmed that a military commander had guaranteed that monasteries in this city would be spared night-time raids, unlike in Rangoon. ‘’A monk who knew the commander complained that we could not sleep at night due to fear of arrests. The commander assured him that his troops would not attack the monastery,’’ said the middle-aged monk.

Not spared, however, were university students and civilians who were part of the protests, which came after nearly 20 years of people living in fear of a repressive junta. The regime’s crackdown resulted in some 50 students being arrested. And like Rangoon after the assault, there were rumours of people seeing dead bodies being dumped into the nearby river.

The Burmese army’s softer approach in Mandalay has been attributed to the large number of Buddhist monks who live in the many monasteries that dot this central city, where Burma’s last king reigned before British colonisation. Some estimate that nearly 100,000 of Burma’s some 400,000-strong brotherhood of monks can be found in the pagodas, Buddhist schools and monasteries here.

‘’There is a very strong bond between the Buddhist monks and the community in Mandalay,’’ says Zaw Min, a former resident of the city who now lives in exile in Thailand. ‘’There is a Buddhist presence everywhere. The soldiers also know this.’’

What prevailed here in September has parallels to what happened in Mandalay in 1988. Then, thousands of pro-democracy activists, including monks, took to the streets only to face a brutal response from the military that left some 3,000 protestors dead, mostly in Rangoon. ‘’I was in Mandalay in 1988, and there were no major clashes unlike in Rangoon,’’ Zaw Min, spokesman for the Democratic Party for a New Society, told IPS correspondent Marwaan Macan-Markar in Bangkok.

The anti-government protests held here were part of the public discontent that broke to the surface in mid-August following a sudden 500 percent spike in oil prices. On the eve of the crackdown, demonstrations had been held in 26 cities and towns across this South-east Asian nation. But only in Rangoon and two towns in the Kachin State, the northernmost province, did the junta unleash severe measures.

‘’This also reveals the disarray in the way the regime responded to the situation. The suppression in Rangoon was very tough; so too, in the Kachin State,’’ says Zaw Oo, director of the Vahu Development Institute, a think tank based in northern Thailand that specialises in Burmese affairs. ‘’The order to crackdown depended very much on the local commanders. Each used a different means of suppression.’’

According to ‘The Irrawaddy,’ a current affairs web site and magazine published by Burmese journalists in exile, the order to use force ‘’was made by junta leader Gen. Than Shwe, but there were moments when the army -- senior and junior officers -- appear to have disagreed on how to handle the protests.’’

‘’There was a time when the possibility of a coup seemed real,’’ it added in a report on Monday, quoting a source in Rangoon who has since left the city. ‘’There were some top commanders who did not want to use deadly force and there was real tension within the junta.’’

Burma’s military, which has dominated the country for the past 45 years following a coup, has gained notoriety for its brutality. Little wonder why doubts have been raised about the number of people who were killed by the junta’s forces during the late September crackdown. The official number of deaths is 10, but anti-government groups estimate that over 200 people have been killed.

Two light infantry divisions from outside Rangoon were sent into the city to confront the demonstrators, Win Min, a Burmese academic with inside knowledge of the country’s military affairs, told IPS. ‘’They were both battle-hardened divisions. They had been deployed before to fight (separatist rebels) in the Karen State.’’

But the two light infantry divisions dispatched to Mandalay were not as battle tested, added Win Min, who teaches at Chiang Mai University, in northern Thailand. ‘’I also heard that many commanders did not want to shoot the monks in Mandalay although they got the orders to do so.’’

Yet the reprieve of sorts that Burma’s second largest city appears to have enjoyed has done little to ease the mood of the people. They share similar sentiments to those in Rangoon in the aftermath of the crackdown.

‘’What we need now is security. We don’t have it,’’ said a 35-year-old teacher near the Mandalay university. ‘’Even though I did not do anything wrong, I feel so unsure in mind about what will happen next.’’

The experience of past political prisoners offers an unsettling look at what Burma may have in store for those arrested in the current crackdown

snip

Thet Oo, 45, knows all about the hardships faced by political prisoners in Burma’s network of prisons, labor camps and interrogation centers. A cheerful, soft-spoken man who wears a hearing aid as a result of the beatings he received and walks with a limp left by childhood polio, he quietly recalled his 12 years in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison. He was arrested in 1993 for involvement with a banned pro-democracy group, was tortured and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

He says there were at least four people to a single small cell in the jail’s compound for political prisoners. The inmates received two basic, hardly adequate meals a day, and were allowed only a small ration of water to wash with.

At one point, Thet Oo was placed in shackles for a month. He and his colleagues kept themselves busy by studying English, playing chess, making handicrafts and meditating, he said. Sometimes friends and family members brought messages to him by rolling them in the filter of a cheroot. Thet Oo was released in 2005; he escaped to Mae Sot three months ago.

snip

The group has produced a harrowing report on the use of torture in Burma. It says beatings, electric shocks, sexual abuse of both men and women, solitary confinement and deprivation of food, water and sleep are all common.

Prisoners are often ordered to assume certain postures while being beaten, or hold them until they collapse. In one common position, prisoners must place their hands behind their heads and lean forward on the balls of their feet. Pins are then placed underneath their raised feet.

Sometimes they are ordered to crouch as if riding a motorbike, or perform a twisted version of a traditional dance, in which they must crawl over gravel on their knees and elbows, and sing. If they do not sing smoothly or cannot crawl, they are whipped with bamboo batons while other prisoners watch.

One former political prisoner described how during his interrogation, he was stripped and made to assume a similar position. Four drunken guards then found a large dog, made it mount his back, and used their hands to arouse its penis. They then placed the dog’s penis against the man’s anus. “I can forgive my torturers for everything but the sexual abuse,” said the victim. “No religion permits such an act. It has destroyed my self-esteem, my dignity.”

Some political prisoners have been told they are to be released and taken to the prison gate, only to be re-arrested and turned back around.

Though some of the Burma Army troops have gone back to the barracks, former capital Rangoon in Burma still bristles with soldiers. But they remain out of sight ready to clampdown if protests recur, residents said.

Akyab (Sittwe), Burma: Burmese Army troops barged into a monastery yesterday night in Akyab (Sittwe) and threw out the monks. Restrictions were imposed on worship. The army chalked out a schedule for worship for the monastery, said a Buddhist monk from Akyab.

With Burma limping back to normal, senior Burmese junta officials have gone into a huddle to decide whether to withdraw night curfew in two of the largest cities –Rangoon and Mandalay – sources in Rangoon said.

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Md. Sadek, a Rohingya was caught red-handed with a Bangladeshi mobile phone by police, on October 7, when he was going home in a car from Maungdaw town, Arakan state in Burma said a close friend.

The good news is that the 780-MW Yeywa dam project in Mandalay division, vehemently opposed by environmentalists, has been put on hold indefinitely, but the bad news is that Burma's universally detested military regime has struck a super-rich vein of gold in the area, according to a businessman coming from Mandalay.

Oct 11, 2007 (DVB)–Two military trucks loaded with students and men with shaved heads were seen driving in the direction of Thayet prison 5 October.

The military trucks were travelling in convoy surrounded by other vehicles, according to local residents.

According to prison administration officials in Rangoon, the number of detainees held in interrogation centres has exceeded capacity. Following the recent demonstrations in Rangoon and elsewhere in Burma, more than 2,000 people have been arrested, many of whom are being held in detention centres in Rangoon.

In response to the overcrowding, the government has decided to transfer a number of prisoners to other locations, including the more remote Thayet prison in central Burma.

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council agreed on Thursday on a statement deploring the Myanmar government's crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations, a Western diplomat said.

Western countries and China had resolved differences over the wording of the statement, first drafted by the United States, Britain and France on Friday, the diplomat told Reuters on condition he was not identified. The statement was expected to be issued shortly, he added.

It would be the first time the council had taken any action over Myanmar and mark a shift of position by China, which had previously used its veto to stop the 15-nation body voicing criticism of Myanmar's ruling military junta.

The full text of presidential statement S/PRST/2007/37 reads, as follows:

"The Security Council welcomes the recent mission by the Secretary-General's Special Adviser to Myanmar Mr. Ibrahim Gambari, reaffirms its strong and unwavering support for the Secretary-General's good offices mission as mandated by General Assembly resolution 61/232, and expresses its appreciation for the personal engagement of the Secretary-General.

"The Security Council strongly deplores the use of violence against peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar and welcomes Human Rights Council resolution S-5/1 of 2 October 2007. The Security Council emphasizes the importance of the early release of all political prisoners and remaining detainees. It also calls on the Government of Myanmar and all other parties concerned to work together towards a de-escalation of the situation and a peaceful solution.

"The Security Council stresses the need for the Government of Myanmar to create the necessary conditions for a genuine dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all concerned parties and ethnic groups, in order to achieve an inclusive national reconciliation with the direct support of the United Nations. The Security Council encourages the Government of Myanmar to consider seriously Mr. Gambari's recommendations and proposals. The Security Council also calls on the Government of Myanmar to take all necessary measures to address the political, economic, humanitarian, and human rights issues that are the concern of its people and emphasizes that the future of Myanmar lies in the hands of all of its people.

"The Security Council welcomes the Government of Myanmar's public commitment to work with the United Nations and the appointment of a liaison officer with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Security Council stresses the importance that such commitments are followed by action. It acknowledges that the Government of Myanmar had invited Mr. Gambari to Myanmar. It underscores its support for his return as early as possible, in order to facilitate concrete actions and tangible results. The Security Council urges the Government of Myanmar and all parties concerned to cooperate fully with Mr. Gambari.

"The Security Council welcomes the important role played by the ASEAN countries in urging restraint, calling for a peaceful transition to democracy, and supporting the good offices mission. It notes that the good offices mission is a process, and encourages the sustained support and engagement of the international community in helping Myanmar.

BEIJING, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday responded to a UN Security Council presidential statement on Myanmar and said the Myanmar issue should be resolved with the efforts of Myanmar's government and people and through consultation.

"The Myanmar issue should be fundamentally and properly resolved with the efforts of Myanmar's government and people themselves and through consultation," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao when responding to press.

The Indian ambassador to Burma met pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi a couple of weeks ago and there are indications that talks could take place between the military junta and pro democracy groups soon.

India's Ambassador met Suu Kyi once and the Foreign Secretary met her twice. The generals and the Nobel Laureate have made some reconciliatory gestures and indications are that dialogue will soon begin between the junta and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, India's External Affairs spokesman said here on Tuesday.

"India has been both privately and publicly seeking release of Suu Kyi and pressing the junta to hold talks with her to make her inclusive in all processes," he said.

New Delhi notes that the present military regime in the neighbouring country has reached agreements with 17 ethnic groups. "Myanmar's [Burma's] process of national reconciliation initiated by the authorities should be expedited," sources said.

New Delhi was hopeful that the UN Special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari's endeavour would bear fruit. "We are ready to work with like-minded countries on Burma and have been extending support to Special UN Envoy Ibrahim Gambari," the official said.

India has also asked the military regime to hold an inquiry into the recent bloodshed. It is of the opinion that military crackdown this time was not as severe as in 1988-89 and feels that there should be a 'credible inquiry' in the recent incidents and report should be published, a Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said.

"We are concerned at the situation in Burma and are monitoring it closely. It is our hope that all sides will resolve their issues peacefully through dialogue." he said.

"As a close and friendly neighbour, India hopes to see a peaceful, stable and prosperous Burma, where all sections of people will be included in a broad-based process of national reconciliation and political reform," he added.

The man tipped to play a leading role in a future democratic government in Burma has been admitted to hospital in Rangoon's Insein Prison. Min Ko Naing (below) is said by a reliable source to have been seriously injured during interrogation, writes Edward Loxton.

The 44-year-old, a co-founder of the All Burma Federation of Students Unions and veteran of the 1988 uprising, is regarded as the most important opposition figure after his idol Aung San Suu Kyi.

He has spent a total of more than 15 years in prison, and limps badly after being forced to stand for extended periods of time in cold water during long interrogation sessions. Amnesty International made him one of its "prisoners of conscience," and he has received several human rights awards.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association today expressed their concern for the physical safety of 15 journalists, writers and comedian-columnists now imprisoned in Burma as police raids continued.

"The announcement today of the death under torture of a pro-democracy activist, makes us fear the worst for the 10 reporters, video-makers and comedian-columnists, some of whom have been secretly held for several weeks in Burma. The UN Security Council statement which deplored the crackdown is to be welcomed, but it did not go far enough. We regret that the Security Council did not call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. " the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

Several Burmese journalists confirmed that the security services are circulating photos of demonstrators taken by citizen journalists or foreign reporters in police stations and among police informers. Scores of people have reportedly been arrested on the basis of these photos.

Burmese Internet-users say that the Internet worked on 10 October, from midday to 4pm, but very slowly. The previous day, it worked from 2pm to 4pm then from 10pm to 1am, during a curfew which is still in force in Rangoon.

Contrary to what was reported earlier, Nay Linn Aung has still not been released.

Two actors who write columns on Burmese society and the junta, have been imprisoned:

Par Par Lay, A member of the Moustache Brothers troop in Mandalay, central Burma, has been secretly held since 25 September. He had previously been imprisoned from 1994-2001. Zarnagar, actor nicknamed the Burmese "Charlie Chaplin", was arrested in Rangoon after openly supporting the monks. He has already been imprisoned twice in 1988 and 1990. The magazine Irrawaddy quoted his wife as saying that his health is poor.

Several other journalists have disappeared, but they could have gone underground or tried to reach the Thai border.

YANGON, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government Friday expressed, in an announcement, its regret over a presidential statement on the country unanimously adopted by the 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Thursday.

The announcement blamed the UNSC for such adoption "although Myanmar's situation constitutes no impact on the regional peace and security".

Burma The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) began by reading out a statement to the assembled press on Burma by the Prime Minister, following the UN Security Council statement:

"I applaud the leadership and responsibility shown by all members of the UN Security Council in issuing their first ever formal statement on Burma. The statement sends a powerful signal of the collective determination of the international community to stand together with the Burmese people. It is essential that we continue to work to bring an end to this crisis. The regime in Burma must now take the opportunity to begin the process of reconciliation, overseen by the UN."

Asked if there were any practical measures being taken, the PMS replied that the next step would be the meeting of the EU Foreign Minister's on Monday, where there would a discussion on Burma and the Foreign Secretary would be pushing for a toughening of the EU sanctions regime.

Asked for any clues on which direction the Government would wish to toughen them, the PMS said general trade and overseas investment. Asked if this referred to France, the PMS replied that the Government did have support for this in Europe but there would be a discussion on this on Monday.

Asked if the Foreign Secretary would be attending the meeting, the PMS confirmed that the Foreign Secretary would be there.

Monks being held in jails and detention centres in Burma are dying from neglect and torture injuries, according to one who was defrocked and released one week ago, reports Edward Loxton.

snip

One lay prisoner released one week ago said he had seen several detainees die, including one young novice monk. “It really was hell,” he said. “I could do nothing for a young novice who was dying beside me. We asked for help from the security guards, but they didn’t do anything until they came to take away his dead body.”

More than 3,000 monks and lay people were arrested during the bloody crackdown on demonstrations in Rangoon and Mandalay. Groups of detainees have been released after signing pledges to refrain from future protests, but the whereabouts and condition of about 2,000 still held in jails and detention centres is still unknown. Those who die are secretly cremated and their families are curtly told the bodies have been “disposed of."

October 12, 2007 - Locals in Chin state in northwestern Burma have been victims of extortion by the State Peace and Development Council. Money is being forcibly taken for the renovation of an army outpost among other reasons. People meanwhile are severely hit by sharply rising prices of essential commodities.

On October 7, a commander from the military outpost of the Light Infantry Battalion (266) stationed in Lungle, Thangtlang Township forced each household from 18 villages in Thangtlang to donate Kyat 1000 (Burma currency) for renovation of a military outpost, a local in Chin state said.

October 12, 2007 - On suspicion that he was working for the Chin rebels, the Burmese police shot dead a local Mr. Bawi Ceu (31) near the entry gate of Thangtlang town in Chin state, Burma at 8 p.m. on October 3.

The victim Bawi Ceu from Hrangpi village in Thangtlang Township put up in the house of U Tin Aung in Thangtlang town for a few days. However, he didn't report his presence to the Quart Council office.

Sittwe: Telephone subscribers in Sittwe are refusing to talk to media outside Burma about the situation in the city as authorities have threatened severe punishment to anyone caught giving information.
A monk in Sittwe was speaking to Narinjara News about the situation there and in other parts of Arakan State during the monks' protests in Burma, but since the demonstrations have ended, he does not wish to say anything.

"Gang-like members of Rayaka and USDA are closely watching monasteries in Sittwe and they are looking for those who are into phone interviews with foreign based radio stations. So I do not want to tell you anything, as I am afraid of being arrested," the monk said.

The ward authorities in Sittwe are visiting monasteries every day accompanied by policemen and threatening monks about speaking to the media outside about the situation in the city. They also told the monks and civilians that foreign-based media like the BBC, VOA, and RFA, of liars and betrayers of the country.